Gloverly Cupcakes

I discovered on Friday last week that there was going to be a cake sale in the office on Monday. Sadly I was away all weekend and didn’t get back until Monday lunchtime. Well, I wasn’t really that sad given that I went to Germany to see Tom! However, I didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to make some cakes for charity and since the Big Brew Up is happening all week I decided to make some last night!

I was split between making some autumnal themed cupcakes and some “brew up” themed ones. So I went for both! The autumnal ones I made were “toffee apple”. I looked online for a good recipe but none really appealed so I decided to use my standard vanilla recipe and adapt it. It worked, and the cakes were really moist – the mixture was maybe a bit too liquid so I probably should have used less apple (although they have a really good apple flavour!) and instead of the tinned caramel I added I would probably add chopped up toffee/caramels so that you get bites of caramel.

I learnt two things as a result of making these…

Firstly, as a result of the cakes being too moist, some of them peeled away from their cases when they came out the oven. This has happened a couple of times before and I’ve now worked out that it only happens when the cake mixture is really runny and/or they are slightly under-baked when they are taken out of the oven. I think on this occasion it was a combination of the two – the cakes in the middle were the only ones that peeled away after I put them on the cooling rack so I think they could have done with a couple of minutes longer. I’ve adjusted the cooking time in the recipe below to reflect how long I think they need.

Secondly, I learnt that sugar decorations are messy to make! And they “melt” after a couple of hours! So what looked like pretty sugar spirals just after I’d made them, looked like dots of caramel when I came down the next morning… god job I took the photos the night before! I also got up early enough to make some more before I went to work but by mid morning they were all melted!! I have no idea if there is a way to stop this happening but I will be looking into it!

Toffee Apple Cupcakes (adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days)

Makes 12

140g caster sugar

120g plain flour

40g unsalted butter

1/2 tbsp baking powder

¼ tsp mixed spice

½ tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

120ml milk

1 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 green apples, grated

150g tinned caramel/dulce de leche

Line a muffin trays with 12 cases. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4-5.

Mix the sugar, flour, butter, baking powder, spices and salt together in a stand mixer (or rub in with your hands) until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Beat the milks, eggs and vanilla together in a jug and then gradually beat into the dry ingredients until smooth (ensuring that you scrape down the sides of the bowls after each addition).

Fold in the caramel and grated apple.

Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 cases and then bake in the oven for 25 minutes until they are lightly browned on top and spring back when pressed (and a skewer comes out clean). Check them after 15 minutes and turn the tray around.

Take out the tin immediately and leave to cool on a wire ready. Decorate once completely cool.

Caramel Buttercream (also from Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days)

250g icing sugar

80g butter

25ml milk

150g tinned caramel/dulce de leche

Beat the icing sugar and butter together on a very slow speed until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. I always put a tea towel over the top of my KitchenAid to prevent icing sugar going everywhere! Then slowly add the milk and vanilla. Once it’s all been added, add the caramel. Scrape down the sides to ensure it’s all mixed in and then increase the speed and beat on high for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

To make the spun sugar…

Put a full mug of granulated sugar (not an exact science and I ended up with loads of caramel!) in a saucepan over a low heat and leave it to melt completely (no stirring).

Then keep it over the heat (still without stirring) until it turns a dark caramel colour.

Take it off the heat and leave it to cool, stirring it occasionally, until thick – it needs to be thick and sticky so that you can pull it and stretch it but not so thick that it breaks as soon as you try to make “strings” out of.

If it cools down to far, put it back on the heat and heat it gently until it thins down again.

Once the caramel has cooled down and thickened, oil the handle of a wooden spoon or something similar – I started off with a wooden spoon but then found that my metal knife sharpener worked better!

Dip a spoon into the thickened caramel, pull it up creating a “string” and then wind it around the handle of the wooden spoon quite quickly to create a spiral and keep going until you reach the end of the handle or the “string” breaks!

Slide the spiral off the spoon very carefully and then place on the cake straight away.